The application for Asylum is also the application for withholding of removal.  However, the standard for considering an Asylum application is different from the requirements for withholding of removal.  To qualify for withholding of removal, the applicant must demonstrate that the applicant's "life or freedom would be threatened" on grounds of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group; there is a “clear probability” that the applicant will be persecuted if he/she were to be removed, a much higher standard than “well founded fear” under an Asylum application.  If withholding of removal is granted, the Court must also consider the withholding of the applicant’s family members.  However, the applicant will NOT be able to adjust and may only be able to obtain employment authorization. Unlike an approval of an Asylum application, withholding of removal may be terminated if there is a change in the foreign country’s condition in which the applicant will not be persecuted if he/she were to be returned; if the withholding of removal application would be a fraud; or if the applicant committed one of the crimes that would have made him/her ineligible prior to the approval.

 

Contact the Immigration Lawyers at Garg & Associates today for more on withholding of removals!